W/R: City, other defendants out of Tuhey lawsuit

An odd but eyeball-grabbing lawsuit over operations at city-owned Tuhey Pool appears to be over.

Todd Smekens filed a small-claims case in December against defendants including the city of Muncie, MutualBank and White River Aquatics. Smekens, who claimed he was owed several thousand dollars for a period after he became separated from the operations of the city pool under his longtime friend Steve Tomboni's White River Aquatics, raised several issues in his initial lawsuit and subsequent filings.

Those issues included access to a line of credit established by White River Aquatics at the bank and allegations that money that had been backed up by the city of Muncie to White River Aquatics to manage the pool in the summer of 2016 had instead been transferred to other Tomboni accounts.

There was some immediate reaction to Smekens' concerns. City officials, who had been told by Tomboni to expect a $96,000 loss at the pool in 2016 and who were obligated to cover most of that, said they took Smekens' allegations seriously.

But attorneys for the city almost immediately asked that the lawsuit be dismissed, as did the bank and Tomboni's company. Delaware Circuit Court 4 Judge John Feick, whose court inherited the lawsuit, subsequently granted those motions.

But the dispute isn't over. In recent weeks, both MutualBank and White River Aquatics have filed counter-claims against Smekens. In an early March filing, MutualBank argued that Smekens "has continued to litigate an action after it clearly became frivolous, unreasonable or groundless" and seeks repayment of its attorney fees by Smekens.

About a week ago, White River Aquatics filed a counter-claim for "frivolous litigation," seeking attorney fees.

Smekens contacted W/R last week and said he would still file a reply to the bank and White River Aquatics.

"We still haven't had a hearing about the case," Smekens said. "So much for the 'justice system.'"

Still unanswered, and likely to remain so, are the allegations of mismanagement, but in one of its filings, MutualBank denied that the $80,000 line of credit it provided to White River Aquatics "was limited to any specific use."

"MutualBank denies that the city of Muncie executed 'a loan guaranty from the city of Muncie taxing authority' but admits that the city of Muncie executed a commercial pledge agreement limited to $80,000."

Among other fallout: City officials said at the end of the year that the city, not White River Aquatics, would operate the pool this summer.